Criminal court statistics quarterly, England and Wales, April to June 2017

Including statistics on the use of language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals

Main points

Outstanding cases in magistrates courts have fallen slightly

Disposals were higher than receipts in Q2 2017, which resulted in a small decrease in outstanding cases from 288,700 in Q1 2017 to 283,800 in Q2 2017.

Outstanding cases in the Crown Court have fallen

Disposals remained higher than receipts in the quarter, continuing to drive the decrease in outstanding cases to 39,600, the lowest number since Q1 2013.

Despite decreasing, violence against the person still had the highest number of outstanding cases

In Q2 2017, violence against the person offences had the highest volume of receipts, disposals and outstanding cases, although outstanding cases had decreased from 7,800 in Q1 2017 to 7,500 in Q2 2017.

The average number of days from first listing to completion in the Crown Court has decreased

For cases completing in the Crown Court, the average number of days from first listing to completion in the Crown Court decreased from 178 days in Q1 2017 to 174 days in Q2 2017.

Total financial impositions have increased

Total financial impositions have increased in the latest quarter, mostly driven by the £22.2m increase in fines.

Interpreters: The success rate of completed service requests increased

The success rate for completed language interpreter and translation service requests was 98% in Q2 2017, a one percentage point increase compared to Q1 2017.

The technical guide to Criminal court statistics can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-guide-to-criminal-court-statistics

For full and detailed commentary please refer to the annual publication: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2017

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1. Criminal cases in the magistrates’ courts

Outstanding cases in magistrates courts have fallen slightly

Disposals were higher than receipts in Q2 2017, which resulted in a small decrease in outstanding cases from 288,700 in Q1 2017 to 283,800 in Q2 2017.

Figure 1: Magistrates’ courts caseload, Q2 2012 to Q2 2017 (Source: Table M1)

Magistrates’ court caseload (Figure 1)

Since Q1 2017 receipts have fallen by 6% to 375,700 in Q2 2017. Disposals have also decreased in the latest quarter, falling by 5% to 380,700 in Q2 2017. Overall since Q2 2016 receipts and disposals have both decreased by 3% and 5% respectively.

Despite a fall in the number of disposals, they remained higher than receipts in Q2 2017, driving the 2% decline in the number of outstanding cases between Q1 2017 and Q2 2017 to 283,800. Overall since Q2 2016, the number of outstanding cases have decreased by 3%. 2. Criminal cases in the Crown Court

Outstanding cases in Crown Court have fallen

Disposals remained higher than receipts in the quarter, continuing to drive the decrease in outstanding cases to 39,600, the lowest number since Q1 2013.

Figure 2: Crown Court caseload, Q1 2009 to Q2 2017 (Source: Table C1)

Receipts (Figure 2)

Receipts have fallen by 4% since Q1 2017 and overall by 1% since Q2 2016. Receipts for triable-either-way cases have seen a reduction of 4% since Q1 2017, while receipts for indictable only cases have decreased by 1% since the previous quarter.

Disposals (Figure 2)

As with receipts, disposals have also fallen in the latest quarter by 5% to 29,900, and by 8% since Q2 2016. In the latest quarter, triable-either-way disposals and indictable only disposals fell by 7% and 2% respectively.

Outstanding (Figure 2)

Outstanding cases in the Crown Court have been gradually decreasing since Q4 2014, mainly due to disposals remaining higher than receipts over the past 2 years. In the latest quarter outstanding cases declined by 3% to 39,600 cases, the lowest number since Q1 2013.

The driver of this declining trend has been triable-either-way cases, which have fallen by 4% in the latest quarter and 15% since Q2 2016. Indictable only cases followed a similar pattern but to a lesser magnitude, decreasing by 2% in the latest quarter and by 8% between Q2 2016 and Q2 2017. 3. Receipts, disposals and outstanding cases in the Crown Court by offence group

Violence against the person still had the highest number of outstanding cases

In Q2 2017, violence against the person offences had the highest volume of receipts, disposals and outstanding cases, although outstanding cases had decreased from 7,800 in Q1 2017 to 7,500 cases in Q2 2017.

Figure 3: Receipts, disposals and outstanding cases by offence group, for trial cases, Q2 2017 (Source: Pivot table 1)

Receipts, disposals and outstanding cases by offence group (Figure 3)

Despite a 10% decrease from Q1 2017, violence against the person offences had the highest number of receipts in Q2 2017, followed by drug offences. Violence against the person also had the highest number of disposals in the quarter and the highest number of outstanding cases.

The offence group with the next largest number of outstanding cases was sexual offences even though it had the fifth largest number of receipts. The large number of outstanding cases for sexual offences may be because they have longer average number of days from first listing to completion compared to other offences.

Although drug offences had the second highest number of receipts they had a low number of outstanding cases due to shorter completion times than, for example, sexual offences. 4. Timeliness

The average number of days from first listing to completion in the Crown Court has decreased

For cases completing in the Crown Court the average number of days from first listing to completion in the Crown Court decreased from 178 days in Q1 2017 to 174 days in Q2 2017.

Average hearing times for not guilty plea trials was 15.8 hours in Q2 2017

Average hearing times for not guilty plea trials in the Crown Court increased from 14.2 hours in Q1 2017 to 15.8 hours in Q2 2017, the highest level in the quarterly time series. Hearing times for guilty plea trials remained stable at 1.7 hours in the latest quarter (table C7).

Figure 4: Average number of days (mean) from first listing in the magistrates’ courts to completion in the Crown Court, for Crown Court criminal cases, Q2 2010 to Q2 2017 (Source: Table T4)

Crown Court criminal cases - First listing in the magistrates’ courts to completion in the Crown Court (Figure 4)

The decrease in time from sending to the Crown Court to main hearing has driven the overall decrease in first listing to completion in the Crown Court, decreasing by 4 days from 127 days in Q1 2017 to 123 days in Q2 2017. The average time from first listing at the magistrates’ court to completion at the magistrates’ court has remained at 6 days in Q2 2017, whilst the time from main hearing to completion also remained fairly similar at 44 days in Q2 2017. Annex A: Enforcement of financial impositions

Total financial impositions have increased in the latest quarter

Total financial impositions have increased in Q2 2017, mostly driven by an increase in fines.

Figure 5: HMCTS management information: Financial impositions by imposition type, England and Wales, Q2 2011 – Q2 2017 (Source: Table A2)

Note: The Criminal Court Charge (CCC) ceased to exist on 24 December 2015 but impositions still appear due to when the data are entered onto the system.

Financial impositions and amounts paid by imposition type (Figure 5, table A2)

Between Q1 2017 and Q2 2017 total financial impositions increased by 13%, standing at £184 million in Q2 2017. This increase was mostly driven by an increase in fine impositions of £22.2m, with one fine accounting for £20m.

In Q2 2017, 9% (£17.2 million) of all criminal court financial impositions were paid within the imposition month, a 3 percentage point decline in the collection rate of impositions collected within the imposition month in Q1 2017 (12%).

Outstanding financial impositions (Table A4)

In Q2 2017, the total value of financial impositions outstanding in England and Wales was £895 million. The amount of outstanding financial impositions has been increasing since Q1 2014, and showed an increase of 27% between Q2 2016 and Q2 2017. Annex B: The use of language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals

The total number of completed service requests decreased in Q2 2017

A total of 37,700 completed service requests for language interpreter and translation services were made in Q2 2017, a 5% decrease compared to Q1 2017.

The success rate of completed service requests slightly increased in the latest quarter

The success rate for completed service requests was 98% in Q2 2017, a one percentage point increase compared to Q1 2017.

Figure 6: Number of completed language service requests and overall success rate, Q1 2013 to Q2 2017 (Source: Table L1)

Completed service requests (Table L1)

In Q2 2017, criminal courts made the greatest use of face-to-face language interpreter and translation services; 44% of completed service requests were for criminal cases (including Crown Court and magistrates courts completed cases), 35% were for tribunal cases, and 16% were for civil and family court cases.

Success rate (Figure 6)

The success rate has increased from 97% in Q1 2017 to 98% in Q2 2017. Success rates varied across different service types. In Q2 2017, standard language requests had a success rate of 98%, whilst for rare languages it was 88% and for special services it was 99%.

1 The statistics on the use of language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals are Official Statistics, except the statistics under the new contracts which are ‘Provisional Statistics’. The number of complaints decreased in Q2 2017

The number of complaints for completed service requests decreased to 450 in Q2 2017 from 730 in Q1 2017. The complaint rate also decreased by one percentage point to 1%.

The total number of ‘off contract’ service requests decreased in Q2 2017

The number of ‘off contract’ service requests decreased to 300 requests in Q2 2017 from 370 in Q1 2017.

Figure 7: Number of complaints and complaint rate, Q1 2013 to Q2 2017 (Source: Table L2)

Number of complaints and complaint rate (Figure 7)

The most common cause of complaint was ‘interpreter was late’ which accounted for 30% (140) of all complaints made in Q2 2017, a 7 percentage point increase from Q1 2017 (23%). The proportion of ‘interpreter did not attend’ complaints also increased, by 8 percentage points to 25%, whilst complaints for ‘no interpreter available’ decreased by 6 percentage points to 11%.

Just as in Q1 2017, the complaint rate was highest in tribunals at 2%. The complaint rate at criminal courts was less than 1% in Q2 2017, slightly lower than Q1 2017. At civil & family courts the complaint rate was 1% in Q2 2017, also slightly lower than Q1 2017.

Off contract requests (Table L3)

‘Off contract’ requests at criminal courts decreased from 160 in Q1 2017 to 110 in Q2 2017, making criminal courts the biggest contributor to the overall decrease in ‘off contract’ requests in Q2 2017. ‘Off contract’ requests at tribunals decreased from 200 in Q1 2017 to 170 in Q2 2017.

Tribunals accounted for 58% (170) of all completed ‘off contract’ service requests, criminal courts accounted for 35% (110), while civil & family courts accounted for 7% (20). Annex C: Further information on criminal courts data

The data presented in this publication are provisional. Final data for each calendar year is published in June each year in our Criminal Courts Statistics annual bulletin, following further data cleaning and the incorporation of additional cases not available in our original extracts of administrative data.

Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

- Two technical guides providing background information on ‘Criminal Court Statistics’ and ‘Statistics on the use of languages and interpreters in courts and tribunals’, including data collection and processing, as well as relevant revisions policies and legislation.
- A set of overview tables, covering each section of this bulletin.
- A set of pivot tables containing Crown Court data broken down by offence group.
- 3 CSV files which feature court level breakdowns of published data:
  - Criminal Courts listings transparency.
  - Criminal Courts timeliness.
  - Crown Court receipts, disposals and outstanding cases by offence group.

National Statistics status

National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.

All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the Authority’s regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate.

It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:

Tel: 020 3334 3536 Email: newsdesk@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice Statistics Analytical Services division of the Ministry of Justice:

Head of Criminal Justice System Statistics Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ Email: statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Next update: 14 December 2017

URL: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-April-to-June-2017

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Alternative formats are available on request from statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

2 Statistics on the use of language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals are Official Statistics.